Correcting Past Mistakes
by SivMeille
Summary: When Sarah Williams dies in an accident, Jareth realizes just how much he loves her and mourns the fact that he let his pride get in the way of making her his. Four decades later, a girl who looks uncannily like the previous Labyrinth champion runs his labyrinth. Will Jareth lose his precious again? And is she really Sarah anyway? And most of all – will the past repeat itself?
1. Chapter 1 The End

**Disclaimer:** Yes, the Labyrinth belongs to me... Of course it doesn't, that's why this note is titled **dis**claimer. It belongs to Jim Henson – I think – and I make no money off writing this fiction.

**A/N:** Just to inform you that it is a Sarah/Jareth story, not an OC/Jareth story.

* * *

_Chapter 1: The End_

"Shoot, I'm going to be late!" Sarah Williams yelped as she glanced at the clock. "Hurry, Ludo, go back!" The huge Rockcaller nodded as he returned to the Underground via the mirror. Temporarily distracted from her rush to watch him, Sarah marveled at how he managed to fit through the small mirror. Then she glanced at the clock again and gave another frantic eep.

"My shoes... Where are my shoes?" she asked, looking under the wardrobe. A figure to her side held up the red ballet flats.

"'ere you go, Sarah," Hoggle said, handing her the shoes.

"Oh, thank you, Hoggle, you're a lifesaver!" Sarah took the shoes and bent down to kiss him. Hoggle avoided the kiss as best he could.

"Uh, um I don't think you should,"

"Why?" she laughed. "It's not like Jareth can banish us to the bog from here," She thought she saw Hoggle flinch slightly at that comment, but she wasn't sure if she imagined it.

"Yes, yes, of course..." Hoggle said nervously. "Well, you see, the thing is that... um... it has been seven years since you solved the Labyrinth, right?"

Sarah nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

"Well, the thing is that Jareth still hasn't quite... recovered yet. And the higher-ups are startin' to get impatient with him. So maybe you should... visit." Hoggle said with a great deal of effort.

"Visit," Sarah echoed.

"Um... Yes," Hoggle answered, holding his hands in front of him nervously and fidgeting around.

"What did he offer you, Hoggle?" was Sarah's immediate reaction. She arched an eyebrow at her long-time friend in suspicion and crossed her arms.

"Nothin'! I swear, I'm sayin' this out of the goodness of my heart." Hoggle responded.

"Sure. Whatever. Tell Jareth for me that there's no way in hell I'm ever going back there," Sarah said, slinging her purse handles over her shoulder and opening the front door of her apartment.

"Sarah!" Hoggle shouted, just as she was halfway shutting the apartment door behind her. She stopped to look at the dwarf. He was her friend - no matter what. "Just... Just consider it, alright?"

Sarah looked at him, at a loss for words. What could she even say in that situation? She sighed. "Alright, Hoggle, I'll think about it,"

Hoggle let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Now get going, you're going to miss your train."

Sarah gasped in realization and slammed the front door shut. She got out her keys and in her panic took longer than usual to lock the only entrance to her apartment. When she reached the lifts, she repeatedly jammed the down button with her index finger in a useless attempt to make it get to her faster. After what felt like a century, she hopped into the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator doors closed with a 'ding!'.

As the elevator traveled down, she glanced at her watch again. She really was going to be late._ I hope I don't get fired for this..._ She thought nervously. At the age of twenty-two, she was a successful editor at a publishing company. She had long given up trying to become an actor after struggling to remember the right lines to several plays. She had also attempted to become a writer, but found that she had more talent in picking out good stories than writing her own. The elevator doors opened and she rushed out into the the foyer of her apartment building, towards the exit.

Once outside, she power-walked towards the subway station. However, she found that her usual train had already left, and the next one was not due for another twenty minutes. She sat down with a sigh. Today was not her day. To her side, she saw a little girl giggling and playing with her brother. Their mother was off to one side, watching them affectionately. Sarah sighed again, knowing that something like that might never be hers. Sure, she had a family in Ludo, Hoggle and Sir Didymus whom she kept in close contact over the years, as well as with her dad, Karen and Toby. Still, she hoped to get married and have kids someday. _Something that probably won't happen for a looong time..._ She reflected.

She had no love life. No man whatsoever. And she knew exactly why. It was because of a certain blonde man who regularly appeared in her dreams – both the day and night ones. In her dreams, they never said anything to each other. He would just hold her close and dance with her. And she would place her head on his shoulder, both just enjoying each others' company.

Sometimes he would sing to her. Sometimes she was dressed in the same puffy dress from the Crystal Ballroom and other times she was in her pajamas. She didn't know if it really was Jareth causing it, or just a dream her subconscious had created to fulfill her lonely nights. But she knew that no man could compare to the Goblin King, which is why none of her dates ever made her as happy as those dreams in which she and Jareth danced together. _Maybe... _She thought longingly _Maybe I should go back to the Labyrinth..._

She shook her head. _No. If I go back there, I'll never come back. I'll be stuck there forever. _And the truth was that she still feared that place. She had felt no fear when actually running the Labyrinth, but when it had all ended, the idea of going back there got increasingly frightening. And she also feared the Jareth there. The villainous one who had tried so hard to be the antagonist of her fairy tale, one that was totally different from dream-Jareth. _But... Hoggle said there was something wrong with Jareth... So maybe... _

She groaned, feeling more conflicted than ever. If only she could talk to Jareth in her dreams. Every night she would peptalk herself into finally talking to him, to ask for explanations and tell him to quit stalking her in her dreams. However, once she found herself in the dream, with him holding her and twirling her around the ballroom, his eyes silently pleading her not to break the spell... she just couldn't do it. _I have to do something. If I can't talk to him in my dreams, I guess... _She hesitated, knowing that there was no going back once she made this decision. _I guess I have to return to the labyrinth. _

It was just as she made her decision that an announcement came over the sound system, informing everyone that the next train had arrived. She got up with a sigh and walked to the yellow line. Suddenly, being fired from work didn't seem to scare her as much, considering that she was going to return to her childhood nightmare. Trying to distract herself from such thoughts, she watched the mother and her two children out of the corner of her eye. The two children were playing dangerously close to the edge. The mother didn't notice, she was busy looking for something in her purse.

That's when it happened. The little girl missed a step and fell onto the tracks. The ominous twin lights of the next train started to light up at the end of the tunnel. Some people screamed and gasped. Sarah didn't even think about what she was doing, her body moved on its own. She jumped onto the tracks and grabbed the crying child.

"Here!" she shouted, trying to catch the others' attention and snap them out of the daze they seemed to be in. Sarah needed them to deliver the little girl to safety. People scrambled to help her and take the little girl out of the danger zone. The mother of the child took her daughter gratefully. Some people held out her hands to help Sarah up, and their hands were lit up by the lights of the approaching train. Sarah shoved the hands away as she stared at the blinding lights of the train. She couldn't hear the shouts and screams over the loud rumbling of the train traveling on its tracks.

_Jareth. _She thought breathlessly, closing her eyes. _Jareth, I'm sorry. _She didn't even know what she was sorry for, but she was. And she was suddenly flooded by all those feelings of wanting to see him - urges she had been blocking out for years. But too little too late.

Inevitably, the train impacted with the young woman.

She died almost immediately. The final image she had called up was of a man with mismatched eyes and wild blonde hair. Her soul slipped away slowly, leaving the mangled mess of her body behind. That was the end of Sarah Williams.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Underground, a gigantic, ominous, black cloud formed over the Goblin City and the Labyrinth that surrounded it, casting the place into shadows. The wind screeched as it blew, a high-pitched, mourning sound. Bright bursts of light lit the dark sky for a single, frightening second, then darkness fell, before the booming explosion of thunder, not unlike the furious roar of a mighty dragon. Goblins trembled and hid away as their master mourned the loss of his to-be queen.

* * *

**A/N: **It's actually taken me close to six years to muster the courage to post this. So be kind to me, okay?


	2. Chapter 2 Four Decades

**Disclaimer:** I would like to one day own a white barn owl and call it Jareth so I can take it to parks and scare the stuffing out of people (especially avid Labyrinth fans) but no, I don't own the Labyrinth, and I make no money from writing this.

* * *

_Chapter 2: Four Decades_

_T'was just a little, red book with the words The Labyrinth embossed in gold on the front cover. This small book contained the tale of a young girl, the Goblin King and of course, a labyrinth. However, unbeknownst to many was the knowledge that the book was special. Very, very special. The small book could sense the problems and dilemmas of certain people, and place itself in the hands of such people to provide them with some release in a fictional, fantasy world. However, these were the same people who would eventually wish away their problems and be faced with a choice. _

_If they pick the right choice, they are given the right to fight to correct their mistake. They would not succeed, of course, the true master of the book and his labyrinth would see to that. Nevertheless, they would learn their lesson, and live differently with the knowledge of the power of their words.. The wrong choice... Well, let's just say these people never obtained a Happily Ever After. In this way, the little red book was what determined, or indicated the runners of the Labyrinth. _

_The book knew that her true master had not been himself as of late. No matter, soon she would change everything, was the thought of the little red book as she located the next runner of the Labyrinth. Oh yes, she was going to change everything._

* * *

Eldwyn stared silently at the man draped over his throne, one leg thrown casually over the side. To any other person, his manner of sitting on the throne may have portrayed the man to be haughty or arrogant, but Eldwyn could only see the man to be weary and drained, _as well as deep in thought_ Eldwyn realized as he watched the Goblin King tap his riding crop against his boot. Realizing his chance, Eldwyn transported himself behind the throne stealthily and was about to scare the crud out of Jareth when the Goblin King sighed.

"What is it, Eldwyn?" Jareth asked tiredly, his voice laced with exhausted undertones.

_Even his voice isn't what it used to be. _Eldwyn thought to himself, frowning. Eldwyn sighed for more reasons than his failed attempt at surprising the Goblin King.

"Really, brother. Hasn't it been long enough since she died? How long are you going to mourn the mortal?" Eldwyn said, his voice simultaneously concerned and exasperated.

"It's only been four decades," Jareth replied stubbornly.

"In the Aboveground. You know that it's been nearly a century here," Eldwyn countered. When his brother did not reply, Eldwyn continued. "Mother and Father are worried," he said quietly.

Jareth let out one small, sharp bark of laughter. "And what do the High King and Queen of the Underground have to be worried about?" he all but sneered.

"About how you've been handling your responsibilities," Eldwyn countered.

"What's wrong with the way I've been handling my responsibilities?"

"Jareth. You don't even do reconnaissance on your potential runners any more. The Labyrinth has been going wild lately, trapping both friend and foe alike. How many goblins have had to be saved from oubliettes lately?" Eldwyn paused, scrutinizing Jareth's face for any signs of distress or remorse at his lacking sense of duty lately. The Goblin King's face remained emotionless. "And not to mention the last runner... I heard he got to the castle gates. He almost entered your city, and that mortal had not half the ability and courage that Lady Sa- I mean, that she had," He quickly corrected himself as he saw his brother flinch at the half-uttered name.

"Yes, but he did not make it into the Goblin City," Jareth pointed out.

"In the past, near to none of the runners would even be able to make it past the hedge maze, Jareth," Jareth fell silent, frowning. Eldwyn watched his brother with a tentative silence as well. He eyed the dark rings under the mismatched eyes and the tinge of gray to the man's pale skin. His brother was really losing it. "Jareth, you know that Mother and Father are planning to abdicate their throne to you soon, right?"

"Are they?" Jareth questioned, his voice indifferent.

"Yes, Crown Prince of the Underground. They are," Eldwyn said exasperatedly. His annoyed expression abruptly darkened as a thought occurred to him. "But as long as you remain without a queen, you can't inherit the throne,"

Jareth glanced at his brother lazily, before turning away and waving his hand nonchalantly at his brother. "I already have an heir. It matters not if I have a queen,"

"What, Toby?" Eldwyn lifted an eyebrow.

"I still don't understand why you took him in,"

"He is what's left of her. And he was fitting in poorly in the Aboveground, like his sister," Jareth said. "I had to." Eldwyn could hear the sadness reflected in his voice. He decided not to touch on the matter anymore.

"Fine. Whatever. Make him your heir. But you still need a wife, Jareth. You know that."

"I do not. There is no one left for me," Jareth said stubbornly.

"You wouldn't know, you haven't even been looking properly at women over the last century," Eldwyn said. Jareth frowned but said nothing, staring intently at an old egg stain on the ground. Eldwyn sighed again. _Why am I doing this again? _He wondered. _Oh of course, it's because I'm supposedly his favorite brother. _He recalled the way his father had ordered him to do something about the way his brother was acting lately. It wasn't the most pleasant conversation with his parents, but eventually, like always, they won and he was forced to persuade his brother to find a bride, as Jareth had, as said, "a soft spot" for Eldwyn. For the first time in his life, Eldwyn wished he was not the Goblin King's favorite sibling.

"Alright," Jareth said finally, interrupting Eldwyn's musing. Eldwyn looked at his brother, only to find him now staring out the window at a gray sky. "Just find me some candidates and I'll decide if they're worthy of being my Queen."

Eldwyn stared at his brother in shock, then a slow smile spread across his face. "Of course, your majesty." He said cheekily. Jareth glanced at his brother and gave him a wry smile, then returned to staring out the window.

* * *

"Yer snuck onto mah ship, threw one of mah crew overboard, ruined me breakfas' and stole mah most precious treasure. What do yer haf to say for yerself?" A figure dressed in a ruffled shirt, tight black pants and knee high boots with a black eyepatch over one eye said in a coarse voice to another figure. The smaller figure was dressed in a brown overcoat and a brown bandanna covered the messy brown curls.

"Just this... You suck!" The other, considerably shorter figure shouted and lunged towards the first, brandishing his sword and striking the other figure. The other figure blocked him with another sword.

"Yer dare attack ye captain?" The first, taller figure said before pushing the shorter figure away. This caused the two to break into a spectacular sword fight, in which the two traded many blows and parrys. However, the captain soon overpowered the smaller figure, striking his hand and causing him to drop his sword. Snarling with pain, the boy rolled over to the end of the deck and stared hatefully at the captain.

"Well now, matey, this here's the end for ye!" The captain lifted the sword and prepared to deal the final blow when a voice called out, interrupting the two.

"Sera! Ralph!" A shocked voice called from the doorway. A pretty, slender middle-aged blonde stared at the two figures, an I-am-not-amused look on her face as she eyed the forming blue-black bruises on both arms of the children. "Really. Can't you both behave for just a minute?" she huffed.

"Sorry, Anna," Both children said together harmoniously. The housemaid sighed in exasperation at their insincere apology.

"Clean up this room. Please." she said, looking around the room at the makeshift 'deck', strewn with crumpled blankets, overturned desks as well as the plastic sword lying on the floor.

"Yes, sir." The taller figure said with a sigh, removing the eyepatch and placing her plastic sword on the table.

"Really, Seraphina. You're already sixteen and you're still playing these silly games. Look at your poor brother," Anna bent down next to the boy at the corner of the room, rubbing his injured hand.

"Yeah, you didn't have to hit so hard, Sera!" the boy said, wincing as Anna took a look at his hand, gently touching the tender skin.

"It's not like you held back either!" Sera said indignantly, holding out an arm to show her younger brother a long, shallow cut which was leaking blood.

"Yeah, but you're older!"

"Well, you're a boy!"

"Well, you're scary!"

"Enough!" Anna shouted. "Stop quarreling and clean up the room or both of you are grounded!"

"We already are," Both of them said simultaneously. Anna looked at the two troublemakers and sighed, realizing that such threats were no longer effective. _How I coped without committing suicide all these years, I'll never know. _She thought to herself.

"Please. Just clean it up." she said, leaving the room. She shook her head at their lack of a social life as she descended the stairs. As soon as her footsteps faded down the stairs, Sera turned and grinned at her brother.

"Told you pirates are better than ninjas." she said with a nonchalant grin, as if she wasn't bickering with her brother just minutes ago.

"No way! Ninjas are totally better! And why'd you get to be the captain?"

"Because I'm taller." Sera said with a careless shrug at her ten year old brother.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Ralph asked, taking off the brown coat and bandana, revealing a great messy pile of strands that stuck out stiffly in every direction underneath.

"Everything, dear boy, everything," Sera said in a mock posh voice, unbuttoning the ruffled white shirt, exposing a a green T-shirt that peeked beyond all the ruffles. She reached out to pat her brother's head.

"Don't touch me!" Ralph retorted, smacking his sister's hand away with a pout. Sera just chuckled at his hostility. This just served to rile Ralph up more, and he swiped at his sister again. She avoided and gave him a gentle slap on his left cheek. He retaliated by trying to grab her hand, she pulled her hand away and he ended up falling on the ground face-first due to the force of his lunging forward to reach her. "You-" he shouted in anger just as Anna barged into the room.

"When I said clean up this room, I meant it!" she shouted. Both children scrambled to fix the room. "Really... What am I supposed to do with you two...?" she muttered to herself. Then she seemed to remember what she was holding in her left hand. "Sera, this came in the mail for you," She held out the fairly large envelope to the sixteen year old.

"What is it?" Sera asked, eyeing the envelope in curiosity.

"I don't know, I don't have X-Ray vision," Anna said grumpily. "Now clean up the room and then come down for lunch," Ralph grunted and Sera pretended not to hear what she said. Anna sighed again and left the room.

"What is it?" Ralph asked, peering at the envelope as his sister opened it.

"It feels like a book..." she said, tearing at the paper carelessly, leaving little strips of paper all over the already messy room. Finally she opened it and pulled out what was inside. It was a simple, little red book. "...The Labyrinth?"

"Weird, there's no return address..." Ralph said, sifting carefully through what was left of the envelope.

"Maybe it's from my secret admirer," Sera said with a laugh.

"Right. Because that's completely possible," Ralph replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, it is," Sera replied, ignoring that comment. She held the book up towards the light in an attempt to see it better. "The labyrinth, huh?" _It sounds familiar... _She thought belatedly, then shrugged and put it on the table so she could help her brother straighten the room. The book sat cosily on the wooden surface. If it had a face, it would have grinned in its happiness at finding its next runner.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm really sorry if anything in here seems familiar/plagiarized. It wasn't my intention, and I'm doing my best to make this story unique. Easier said than done.

Also, my knowledge of mythical beings isn't very good. Especially that of Celtic origin. Therefore - even though this is horrible - I'm not even going to try. I'm just going to make it up as I go, and totally ignore the idea that Labyrinth may be based on Celtic culture.


	3. Chapter 3 Reunited Maybe

**Disclaimer:** I wonder why there are never any Labyrinth merchandise? I mean, I see posters and stuff but aside from that there isn't very much. And why are they all posters of Jareth? Anyway, no, I don't own the Labyrinth.

* * *

_Chapter 3: Reunited Maybe?_

"Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the Goblin City, for my will is as strong as yours and my kingdom as..." Sera paused and searched her head for the right words. "Um... as... um..."

"Great! Great, you idiot! How could you forget that?!" Ralph shouted, infuriated at the number of times she had screwed up that line, as well as the line after that.

"Shut up! I have a bad memory!"

"Well, obviously!"

Sera just glared at her brother, then went back to trying to recite the line. "My kingdom as great. You... um..." she struggled again. Her brother lifted an eyebrow and tapped his foot on the ground expectantly, an annoyed expression plastered on his face. "You... you _can_...?" she asked questioningly.

"You have no power over me! That's the easiest line in the entire script! How can you forget it!?" Ralph shouted, sounding like an angry drama teacher.

"I'm sorry!" Sera shouted back. "I didn't ask God to make me stupid!"

"And yet you are!" Ralph retorted, his voice rising to a higher decibel.

"Children! Be quiet!" Anna roared, throwing the room door open with an angry shove.

* * *

"Jareth," Eldwyn said suddenly.

"Hmm?" Jareth replied dreamily, staring out a window at the vast expense of sky that reached out beyond the Goblin City and the Labyrinth.

"I did what you asked," Eldwyn said with a proud smile at his efforts.

"Is that so," Jareth replied. His tone made it obvious that it wasn't a question. Silence fell between the two. Eldwyn shifted his weight from his left foot onto his right foot awkwardly.

After a minute of silence, he cleared his throat. "Anyway, they are Princess Saoirse of the Nymphs, Lady Raisie of the Rose Garden, Lady Kellyn Granddaughter of Councilman Teague, Lady Ailis Princess of the Gnomes and Lady Aithne of the Elf Kingdom,"

"I see," Jareth said simply. Eldwyn stood there silently, the awkward atmosphere seemed to return once again.

Finally, when he could take it no more, Eldwyn cleared his throat again. "Aren't you... going to meet them?"

"Why should I?" Jareth asked.

"Maybe because one of them is going to rule over the Underground by your side?" Eldwyn did his best to keep his frustration out of his voice, and felt proud at his steady voice.

"I suppose so. I'll see them in the morning," Jareth said with an I-couldn't-care-any-less shrug. Eldwyn resisted the urge to reach out and smack his brother.

"Jareth-" he started, then stopped. He had felt a sudden shift in the air, brought about by powerful magic. It was, however, a familiar feeling. It was the signal that another mortal was about to become a runner. He glanced at his brother who had noticed the sudden disruption as well. With a sigh, Jareth got up from his throne.

"We shall continue this conversation later, Eldwyn," said Jareth.

"Yes, I suppose so," Eldwyn said. "But this isn't over, Jareth,"

"Of course," Jareth said, with a small smirk at his brother's agitation. Then with a flick of the wrist, Eldwyn was left alone in the throne room staring where he last saw Jareth standing.

* * *

_Little less than an hour or so before the signal went off..._

"My kingdom as..." Sera said, frowning.

"Great," Ralph said with a tone of resignation and weariness.

"I knew that! I was just... Um... Recollecting my thoughts," Sera muttered and attempted to hide her embarassment.

"Right," Ralph said sarcastically. He placed the little red book down on to the table to glare at his sister. "I don't get why you're trying so hard to recite lines from this book,"

Sera snatched up the book and flipped through the pages. "Because," she said, frowning into the pages. "I just feel like it,"

"You just feel like it," Ralph echoed in a monotone.

"Yes. I just feel like it," she replied with a nod. She gazed at the words on the page in an almost heated manner. _I wonder why I feel like I have to remember these lines? Something just feels so familiar about this... _She turned a page and stared at a particular paragraph. "Hey, Ralph?"

"What?" he asked, his attention focused on the portable game console he held in front of him.

"Why do you think the Goblin King fell in love with the main character?" Sera asked quietly, her gaze still locked on the particular page she was on.

"I don't know. Maybe she was hot," Ralph replied in a manner that aptly expressed exactly how interested he was in this particular conversation.

"I don't think that's it..." Sera replied with a frown. Ralph looked up at his sister to see if she was being sarcastic. She wasn't.

"I was kidding," he said flatly.

"But I still don't think that's it," was Sera's reply. Ralph shrugged and looked away. After spending a decade in her company, he had become accustomed to Sera's unusual understanding of the world by now.

"Maybe he just did. People are always saying that love is hard to understand and crops up in the unlikeliest of places... Or something like that," Ralph unpaused his game and continued to savagely attack the many buttons with much gusto.

"Yeah," Sera said. Ralph paused his game once more and looked up at his sister in concern at her unusually tame response. She was intently focused on the book, her eyebrows knitted together and the corners of her mouth turned downwards in a frown. Then, so sudden that Ralph jumped, she shut the book close with a loud thud, which was quite a feat considering how small it was. She then slammed it onto the table. "It's so not fair!" she whined.

"Wha-"

"I mean, why can't we have adventures?" she said fiercely. "Why can't these fantasies be real?" she sighed. "Why does this world have to be so excruciatingly boring?"

"Well... I doubt the characters think that way at the time..." Ralph said, a bit taken aback. Sera pursed her lips, crossed her arms and plopped her bottom onto the single bed.

"Yeah, but I want to experience it at least once..." Sera said, leaning back and lying down fully on the bed. She placed her arms behind her head as a sort of pillow to prop her head up. "Even if I end up regretting it - which I doubt as there is no way it could be worse than this boring world - I still want to be able to say 'I did that', you know?" Then with another sigh, she closed her eyes and turned to her side.

Ralph, seated on his bed opposite hers, stared at his sister. He knew she had always had difficulties fitting in with people of this realm, but did not realise just how much she seemed to want such fantasies to be true. Looking at the slim, reclined figure turned away from him, he felt uncomfortable at the sudden lack of inane chatter from his sister. He ended his game and turned off the game console. "Well. If it makes you feel better, I'll let you wish me away."

"What?" she said incredulously, turning her head to stare at her brother.

"Like that book. You can wish me away, then you can have that adventure in the Labyrinth trying to retrieve me. Just make sure you solve it. Living my life out as a goblin isn't really the bright future I had in mind." he delivered his speech as he placed the game console on the table.

Sera just stared at him, and a slow smile crept across her face. "Really? You'd do that for me?" she asked. Ralph shrugged.

"As long as you stop trying to recite lines when you're so obviously mentally disabled in the memory department," Ralph said.

"Okay," she said, sitting up and nodding her head vigorously, seemingly ignorant to the thinly-veiled insult. "I wish the Goblin King would come and take you away!" she said cheerfully. They waited in silence, staring into each others' eyes. Nothing happened, not even after a painstakingly long five minutes.

"Ah, I knew it," Sera groaned, and flopped back down into a reclining position on the bed. "It's no use, Ralph. Something like this will never happen to me," She placed an arm over her eyes in resignation in an attempt to block out any light and accordingly, the world. Not hearing the sarcastic or witty reply of her brother, she removed her arm from her eyes and stared up at the ceiling light.

"Ralph?" She turned her head slowly to the side, only to see that her brother's cross-legged silhouette was no longer on the bed opposite hers. She sat up in shock and scanned the room, but failed to find what she was searching for. Just then, a bolt of lightning came crashing down to Earth near Sera's window, emitting a bright flash of light and a loud crackle that resonated through the sky. Sera jumped at the sudden sound just as the light went out. Stunned by the great sound and blinded by the sudden lack of light, she stumbled around the room.

"Ralph!" she shouted, a little more panicked now. "Ralph!" Still there was no reply. "Raphael Stefan Briggs! Come on out!" she shouted. Then she heard giggling behind her. Spinning around, she tried to spot the source but to no avail.

"Who's there?" her voice shook only slightly as she took a step forwards towards where she had heard the giggles. As she put one foot before the other, the giggling increased in volume. An abrupt flutter of wings against the window caused her to halt her advance and jolt as if she had been struck by lightning. Then, as if sensing her reaction to the wings, another bolt of lightning came striking down towards the Earth and caused a sound to boom through the air just as the bird somehow managed to open the window and fly in. Before it touched the floor, it transformed to a man. A man in a black, feathery cape.

"My, my..." said the man, his silky voice could barely be heard over the storm. "Now what have we here? Teenage girls seem rather inclined to wish away their brothers now, don't they?" His voice seemed teasing, but Sera thought she heard a sort of deadness to it.

"Who are you?" she asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. With fresh memories of his silky voice to compare it to, she realised just how coarse her voice was.

"Why, I am the Goblin King of course. Did you not wish me to take away you brother?" Jareth thought her voice seemed familiar. He wondered why. Was she one of the runners that had entered his Labyrinth and somehow escaped only to make the same mistake once more? He could not see her face due to the lack of light. He stepped forward in an attempt to see if she really was someone he had known.

"I did..." she said quietly. Her mouth had gone very dry as she stared at the figure dressed in nothing but black, his blonde hair was wild and unruly. He stepped forward, his movements lithe and graceful and Sera stepped back, intimidated. _It really is him. _She realised. _It's the Goblin King._

"And who are you, precious?" he purred. It had been so long since he have had a young teenage girl become a candidate for running his labyrinth. Even if it was only for the short moment that her face was covered by the shadows, he wanted to pretend to himself that she was Sarah. Beautiful, witty Sarah.

"I..." Sera said, dismayed at how quickly he seemed to be closing the distance between them despite her incessant steps backward. Deciding she had had enough of his intimidation game, she planted her feet firmly on the ground. Just then lightning once again flashed outside the window, illuminating the many planes of her face.

Jareth almost missed a step as he caught that determination burning in her green eyes as she stared up at him in defiance, and the many familiar angles of her face.

Jareth's body reacted before his mind did. He lunged forward - or had he teleported? - to her, at the same moment he flooded the room with bright light. Goblins squealed at the sudden change in the brightness of the room and dashed off to hide in the darker corners. Jareth ignored them. He brought up his gloved hands and cupped the sides of her face, hardly registering the shocked expression on her face or the small squeal at the unexpected contact. She had the same facial features, the same look of defiance. She even had the same green eyes, though they were of a brighter shade and the same long hair that fell past her shoulders, though it was a red-brown colour.

He stroked her cheek with one gloved thumb as he found himself gazing into the face of his deceased beloved.

"Sarah?"


	4. Chapter 4 Deja Vu

**Disclaimer:** I suppose I own Eldwyn... And Ralph... And all the female candidates to become Jareth's queen. But sadly, not Jareth or Sarah. That belongs to Jim Henson and Brian Froud, I'm guessing.

* * *

_Chapter 4: Deja Vu_

"Sarah?"

The sixteen year old stared up at the older man in shock. Bright green met brown and blue as he gazed into her eyes. A moment of silence passed as Sera tried to register what had just happened. She didn't know what to say as she looked at the Goblin King. He had a rather strange look on his face, one that conveyed to her the many things he must have been feeling at that moment. Shock, confusion, more shock, and hope. Hesitantly, she opened her mouth.

"It's Sera," she said, emphasizing the slightly clipped ending. "My name is Seraphina," she said, praying silently that her voice would hold steady despite the fear at his earlier movements. "Seraphina Briggs." She looked up at him expectantly after introducing herself and saw realisation dawn on his face. He released his hold on the sides of her face but still stood uncomfortably close to her.

"Sera," he breathed. Though he did not have that desperate expression on his face any longer, his voice held a tone of wonder and a hint of longing.

"Um. Yes," Sera responded, a look of confusion on her face. "And you're... The Goblin King?"

He seemed to remember his purpose and his face snapped back to its usual cold, haughty mask. "Yes, but call me Jareth,"

"...Okay," Sera said. _What a weird person... _She thought to herself, the irony of the statement totally lost on her. Then she gasped in sudden realization. "Where's my brother!?" she asked, her pitch rising to reflect her sudden panic.

"Why, in my castle beyond the Goblin City, of course," Jareth said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which, to some degree, it was.

"Why?" she asked intelligently.

"Because you wished him away," Jareth answered, frowning at her unadvanced mental capabilities. He remembered Sarah as being rather intelligent, despite being a bit of a brat.

"It was a test!" she protested. "I didn't genuinely believe it!"

"What's said is-"

"I have to go get him!" Sera said, wide-eyed and restless. Jareth watched as she paced around, thinking of a way to go fetch her brother.

_Is this really Sarah? _He wondered to himself, comparing the difference of Sera's reaction to the original Sarah. _If recall correctly, Sarah begged me to return her brother... Rather than brainstorm unsuccessfully for ideas._

"But, Sera, don't you see what you can have instead?" A crystal ball formed in his hand, and he held it out to her. "Don't you see what I'm offering you? It's your dreams, your heart's desire."

The redhead stared at the shiny globe. "Um..." she said. "Is that a labyrinth?" she asked, poking the small sphere lightly.

Jareth frowned and peered into the crystal. "Yes, that's my labyrinth," He directed his gaze back to Sera. "Your dream is to run my labyrinth?" he asked, incredulous. In all his years of being the Goblin King... Never had he come across a dream as ridiculous as hers. And he had seen some pretty odd things in his day.

"Um..." she said, feeling nervous under his intense stare. "Yes?" she said uncertainly.

He continued to stare at her. Finally, breaking the silence, he asked, "Why?"

"I thought it'd be... fun," she said sheepishly.

"Fun," he echoed tonelessly.

"Yes, fun- Wait, why are we discussing this? I've got to get my brother back!" she said, realising she had once again gone off-topic.

_I must be growing senile to think that this could be Sarah... _Jareth thought to himself as he stared at the frantic redhead. _Sarah was much more... intelligent. And sharp. This girl is as sharp as a tack. _He observed dryly.

"Oh!" Sera exclaimed, shocking Jareth out of his thoughts, she pointed at him, a bright expression lighting her face. "That's right! If I run the labyrinth, I could get my brother back, right?"

Jareth held his palms out towards the window of her room, and the panes flew wide open, revealing a labyrinth, far beyond which was a castle. The whole landscape was lit by a red yet gloomy light, glowing ominously. Sera gaped out the window in shock. She walked to it slowly and leaned against the window sill.

"Do you still want to look for him?" he asked quietly, watching her stunned expression. She didn't reply. "Turn back, Sera," Jareth found himself repeating lines he had said more than four decades ago. "Turn back before it's too late," She turned back to look at him, seemingly ignoring the fact that her room had disappeared and she was right before the labyrinth, the wind whipping her hair against her face.

"Are there... are there dragons in there?" she asked, her eyes shining. Jareth was so taken aback, he couldn't reply for a while.

"No," he said flatly. _Eldwyn was right, I really am losing my touch..._

"I see," she said, trying to hide her disappointment. "Okay, wish me luck," She said, and started to put one foot before the other, towards the menacing labyrinth.

"You have thirteen hours to complete the labyrinth. If you do not, your brother-"

"-becomes one of you forever?" she finished his sentence. "You know, all of this seems really familiar," she mused. "Like I've done it before." She placed a finger on her chin, thoughtfully.

Jareth's eyes widened. His inner turmoil starting up again as his debate continued. He was shocked out of his internal argument as she shrugged and started walking away.

"Well, anyway, I'll see you in a while, Goblin King," she said, waving at him in a friendly manner. "Tell my brother I said Hi!"

He stared after her as she ran into the labyrinth, then sighed. _Perhaps I can gather more information regarding this matter from her brother. _He realised, and flicked his wrist, transporting himself back to his castle.

* * *

Sera ran to the labyrinth in glee. She had so many dreams of entering a fantasy world, a world without the cruelty of reality. And now that she had actually achieved that dream, she was giddy with excitement. Then her grin faded slightly as she remembered her brother. "Don't worry," she said out loud in the direction of the castle. "I'll find you, Ralph," She turned her attention back to the labyrinth. "But first... how do I get inside this thing?" She walked on, following the walls as she tried to find an entrance. After about a minute of walking, she broke into a sprint, a grin appearing on her face. _This is so exciting!_

She continued running, until her feet got caught in something and she fell, face-first onto the ground. Rubbing her nose, she looked back to see what she had tripped on. She saw a long string tied from a rock some distance left of Sera and to the wall on her right. "What the-"

"Aha! I caught you, little bog-prince!" A small, fluttery thing said, flying towards Sera. When the little thing saw Sera, it frowned. "Who are you?" asked the fairy. "You're not a dwarf."

Sera, however, was too distracted to answer the question. Reaching out, she grabbed the fairy by the wings. "Are you a fairy?" she asked incredulously.

"Hey, watch it!" The fairy said. "Those wings are precious!" When Sera showed no signs of letting go, the fairy bit Sera's index finger.

"Ow!" Sera said, and let go of the little thing. "That hurt,"

"As was the point," The fairy laughed.

"You know," Sera said, rubbing the spot she was bitten. "I thought fairies were usually female,"

"Well, you thought wrong, as you can see," The fairy gestured to himself. "There are plenty of male fairies. You shouldn't just go around assuming something like that,"

"I'll remember that," Sera muttered. "Why are you setting traps for innocent strangers to fall into?" she asked with a frown, eyeing the obstacle that had caused her to fall.

"I'm trying to get rid of that dumb dwarf who keeps trying to kill us," the fairy pouted. "Who are you, anyway?" The fairy repeated his earlier question.

"I'm Seraphina. But you can call me Sera,"

"Caperlene," The fairy held out a tiny hand and Sera shook it gingerly. "But you can call me Cap for short,"

"Okay, Cap," Sera said. "Hey, do you have any idea how to get into this thing?" She pointed at the labyrinth.

"No... We fairies don't go in there. It's too dangerous." Cap shrugged. "In fact, it's dangerous even out here with Hoggle trying to kill us all. But I bet he knows the way in,"

"Hogwart?" Sera frowned. "That sounds familiar..."

"It's Hoggle!" said a voice behind them. "It's Hoggle, darn it!" Sera turned around to face Hoggle. The dwarf, who had been holding the little spray dropped it in shock. "Sarah?" he said. "It can't be, but you..." he trailed off.

"Um," Sera said, noticing his gaze. "It's Sera. Why do people keep calling me Sarah?"

"What's the difference?" Cap asked.

"Sera. Sarah. There is a difference!" Sera said indignantly. "Oh wait, Hoga, you know the way into the labyrinth, right?" She got up slowly from her sitting position on the floor that she had taken up after she had tripped, dusting her pants.

"It's Hoggle!" Hoggle protested defiantly. "And of course I know the way into the labyrinth. Don't you remember?"

"Why would I remember?" Sera asked, a frown appearing on her face. Hoggle stared at her, took in her red-ish hair and bright, green eyes. _Perhaps she's a distance relative of Sarah's..._

"Never mind," he said. "You gets in..." he pointed to space behind her. "There," A door opened up, looking much like a wall.

"Whoa! A secret door!" Sera exclaimed, clasping her hands together in excitement. Hoggle examined her excitement, wondering if she was being sarcastic. She wasn't. "You're amazing, Hogwash, thank you," She said, and went in through the door. Hoggle let that wrong name slide, because it had come with flattery.

Seeing the fairy and dwarf's reluctance to follow, she stopped and looked at them. "Aren't you coming?"

"No way!" Cap said immediately. "That place was never safe to begin with and it's only gotten worse in the last century!"

"Aww... Cap..." Sera said, giving him puppy eyes. Cap hmphed and turned his back on her. Sera turned to Hoggle. "What about you, Hogwah?"

"It's Hoggle!" Hoggle said. "And I ain't your babysitter,"

"Fine. Be that way," Sera said with a small pout and entered the labyrinth. Something seemed to rumble in the distance, as if sensing her invasion into the labyrinth.

"Now, are you going to go left or right?" Hoggle asked, from his safe position outside the labyrinth.

"Hmmm..." Sera looked both ways. "Right," she said. Hoggle looked at her in surprise.

"Why?" he asked, noting that it was the same way Sarah had gone when she was running the labyrinth.

"I just... feel like it," she answered with a shrug. "You know, something seems awfully familiar about this whole place," she said, brushing her fingers against the side of the wall. "I wonder why?" Hoggle just frowned at her.

"Sera," Cap said, his voice held a tone of barely concealed worry. "You're not really going into the labyrinth, are you?" The fairy had his arms crossed over his chest in a look of defiance, but the lines of his forehead told a different story.

"Of course I am," Sera said. "Okay, thanks for your help, Hoggrass!" She ran off to the right, dodging stray obstacles that lay on her path. Hoggle gave an outraged grunt at her continuous mispronouncing of his name. He gestured with his arms to close the entrance when Cap flew in.

"Wait, Sera! I'm coming too!" Cap said, barely making it before the doors closed. Hoggle stared after the fairy in surprise. It wasn't like the fairyfolk to care that much about a mortal running the labyrinth.

"I hope you get through it safely..." he said silently. _Maybe I should go tell Jareth about this._ The dwarf contemplated silently. Then, remembering the feral mood that Jareth has been in for the past century or so Underground, he changed his mind. "Plus, odds are he already knows," he said aloud, and went back to his work half-heartedly, unable to think of anything but his past mortal friend who had so tragically left them.

* * *

"Get away from me!" A child's voice rang out in the throne room. Jareth scanned his messy throne room silently for Sera's brother. The sight of a child huddled on his throne, swinging his riding crop at the crowd of goblins around him caught his attention. He watched the situation before him in amusement, not wanting to conclude the show just yet. "Agh, you filthy, dirty creatures get away!" The boy shouted, swinging wildly at the goblins.

Jareth walked over to the throne, grabbed one of the goblins and threw him into the air, before kicking another one away. The boy watched him in shock.

"Now, this is no way to treat a guest," he said, his tone friendly yet sinister. Ralph stared up at him in shock. The goblins scrambled away, giving the new guest and the Goblin king some space.

"You're the Goblin King," Ralph said, eyes wide and fearful.

_Now this is more like it... _Jareth thought in an almost smug manner. "Yes,"

"Is... Is my sister alright?" he asked.

"Yes. She is running the labyrinth as we speak," Jareth said, studying the young boy. He didn't look much like his sister. Where she had brown-red straight hair, he had dark, brown curls. She had bright green eyes, he had icy blue ones.

"Oh," Ralph said, his relief evident on his face. Then suddenly, his expression hardened and he glared at Jareth. "What kind of psychopath kidnaps children and then makes their guardian solve a labyrinth anyway?!"

"I do not kidnap children, merely fulfil the wants of those who had wished them here. I think you'll find that children who end up here find that life is better anyway," Jareth replied stiffly, a little offended at being called a psychopath. "As for running the labyrinth, it is simply a test of how far a person is willing to go for the one they love,"

"Right. And how many people have solved this labyrinth anyway?" Ralph scoffed.

"Just one," Jareth replied quietly.

"And I bet he or she really loved whoever was wished away, huh?" Ralph said with a snort.

"As a matter of fact," Jareth said, turning away from the window he was looking out of to gaze at Ralph. "She did," Ralph stared at Jareth silently, noticing that there was something amiss about the way he talked about her... Whoever she was.

"Whatever," he muttered. Jareth looked back out the window at his kingdom.

"Raphael," Jareth said, drawing the attention of the ten year old. "Does the name Sarah Williams sound familiar to you?"

"It's Ralph, and what the hell are you talking about?" Ralph asked, confused at the seemingly random question.

"Answer the question, Ralph," Jareth said, suddenly feeling very tired.

"Never heard the name in my life,"

"I see. Then, has your sister ever expressed a feeling of how do you say it - deja vu?"

"Sera?" Ralph asked, his mind flashing back some years ago:

_"I'm thirsty," Sera said. _

_"Then go get a drink," Ralph said simply._

_"Okay," she said, taking the glass and pouring into it. _

_"Don't let the cup overfill like yesterday, or Anna will be pissed."_

_"I won't!" Sera said indignantly, her head snapping up to glare at her brother. Unfortunately, this distraction caused her to pour too much into the cup, and in turn, for it to spill all over the counter despite the forewarning she had been given. She eyed the mess in front of her and said "Whoa. Deja vu,"_

"No," Ralph replied simply. Jareth's eyes narrowed.

"Then why did you pause?" the Goblin King asked suspiciously.

"Just contemplating my sister's stupidity," Ralph shrugged.

Jareth raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing. However, he seemed to accept Ralph's answer, noticing that the ten year old showed no signs of being dishonest. _I suppose then I have to accept that Seraphina really isn't Sarah... _He thought with a sigh, trying to ignore the sharp pain in his chest. He felt some surprise at how much hope he had riding on Sera being Sarah.


	5. Chapter 5 The Companions

**Disclaimer:** Labyrinth belongs to... I don't really know who. Does anyone know who it belongs to? Anyway, all rights to the movie does not go to movie. I make no money by writing this fanfiction.

* * *

_Chapter 5: The Companions_

Sera leaned a hand against a wall, gasping and panting. "Wha-What -pant- is -pant- this -pant- place?"

"It's the labyrinth. Duh," Cap said in a matter-of-fact manner.

"Yeah, but it's all straight and I'm not getting anywher-" Sera choked off at the ending, interrupted by an urgent need to breathe. She coughed and then stared at the fairy suspended mid-air, his wings fluttering rapidly like helicopter blades. "...Cap?" she frowned, wiping some sweat off her forehead. "What are you... doing here?"

"What? Oh. I decided to follow you," Cap replied, mock nonchalantly. Sera continued staring for another five seconds, before breaking out into a smile.

"Really?" she said. Cap lifted an eyebrow.

"No. I was kidding. I'm really a figment of your imagination," he said sarcastically.

"Ah," she replied, eyes slightly widening. "That explains a lot,"

Cap stared at Sera, wondering if she really believed him or was joking. He shrugged, deciding that it didn't matter.

"Why'd you suddenly break into a sprint like that?" Cap said, referring to her sudden bursting of speed right after entering the labyrinth.

"Um. I thought it'd get me out of here faster?" she replied with a questioning smile. Cap stared at her sarcastically.

"...Well, you thought wrong," was all Cap said.

"Really? Darn," she sighed and fell to the ground, landing in a seating position. "Gah, I'm so tireeeeeeeed," she said, stretching the second vowel in the word to emphasise her point. She yawned, then leaned back, trying to use the wall of the labyrinth as a means of propping herself up. Instead, she fell all the way back into a lying position. She looked up and saw an endless sky, but in her peripheral vision she saw a gap in the wall and another wall opposite each other, one at the highest point of her vision and one at the lowest. "Huh...?"

"What?" Cap, who had been trying to look for a way out turned his attention back to his companion. Sera sat up quickly and looked around. She stood up and backed away, seeing no evidence of what she had fallen backwards in, but when she went forward again, she found that the wall was further back, and there were two passages to her right and left.

"No way. A hidden passage!" she exclaimed. "Look, my imagination, a hidden passage!"

"Who the hell's your imagination!? I'm Cap!"

"...But you said you were my imagination,"

"I was being sarcastic!"

"...Oh,"

Cap slapped his forehead and sighed. "Anyway, we found the hidden passage. Now do we go right or left?"

"Well, if it's not right, it's wrong, right?" Sera said with a shrug.

"...Are you kidding?"

"Nope, let's go!" Sera said and grabbing Cap – who protested the brutality of manhandling – she went right.

* * *

Ralph looked intently out the window, trying to think about what he could do. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to concentrate on anything due to the noisy havoc the goblins were creating. He glared at the goblins, but that only served to rile him up more.

Sighing, he looked over to the Goblin King, who was peering into a crystal intently and sighing as well.

_What's gotten into him? _Ralph wondered, seeing again in his mind the desolate look on Jareth's face.

The messy blonde looked up and met the eyes of the ten year old. Ralph continued to look at the Goblin King, starting an impromptu staring contest. Ralph's eyes narrowed and strained with the effort not to blink, but Jareth seemed to have no trouble keeping his eyes open. This went on until someone burst through the door, accidentally smashing a few goblins as it happened.

"Jareth!" shouted a distinctly male voice. Ralph broke eye contact in surprise and turned his head to glance at the owner of the voice.

An average-height, slender man stomped into the throne room. He had fawn-coloured hair, a lovely mixture of brown and blonde hair. His blue eyes didn't stray from his target – the Goblin King. What stood out on his face for Ralph, though, were the eye markings. It looked exactly like Jareth's. He had on a plain white shirt and like Jareth, pants that were too tight for him.

"What is it, Toby?" Jareth asked, he had resumed staring into his crystal as soon as the staring contest had ended, a victorious smirk plastered onto his face.

"I heard... I heard that Sarah's back..." His face was pale, yet he had on an excited expression.

_Sarah again? _Ralph frowned. He had long learned the difference between the names Sarah and Sera, about the same time he learned the difference between average and stupid people. Those who repeatedly said Sarah even though they had been told it was Sera were stupid while the ones who learned immediately were average. To Ralph, there were no smart people.

"Where did you hear that?" Jareth asked sharply, looking away from his crystal.

"Well... I heard that Graul told Juck, who told Cench, who told Chef, who told-" Toby listed.

"Alright, I get it," Jareth sighed, waving his hand dismissively.

"Is it truly her?" Toby asked quietly. Jareth remained quiet, staring into his crystal.

_Who's 'her'? _Ralph wondered, frowning as he thought of the question Jareth had asked him earlier.

"I don't know," Jareth answered finally.

"Oh," Toby said, dejected. He bit his lip, as if fighting tears.

Ralph watched the exchange with interest. There seemed only one possible explanation for their conversation that Ralph could formulate. It was always believed that when Sera was born, any semblance of intelligence she had was left in her mother's womb and then absorbed by Ralph. At ten years old, Ralph was as sharp as Sera was... well, Sera.

"Um, may I ask something?" Ralph asked, attracting the attention of the two men. "What you're saying... is that Sera might be Sarah. Is that right?"

* * *

"Oh man..." Sera groaned.

"You can say that again..." Cap said.

"Maybe if we go this wa-"

"Sera, no!" Cap said, catching hold of her by the hood on her vest as Sera flailed to keep her balance as she stood on the edge of the cliff. Luckily, with Cap's help, she managed to lean her body weight back and with simultaneous screams they fell back, away from the drop of doom.

"Tha-That was close..."

"Yeah, no kidding," Cap panted. "What would you do without me?" He asked Sera.

"Probably die a horrible death," She replied with a grin too bright to accompany that statement. He sighed, as she continued to crab-walk her way along the edge. He followed, his wings fluttering. "Hey, look, a tunnel!" Without hesitation she walked into the opening at the cliff, and Cap lost sight of her completely.

It was completely dark in the cave.

"Sera!" Cap gasped as he realized he'd lost sight of his companion.

"What? Ow-!" Was all he could hear. He flew towards the noise, and narrowly avoided a collision with something solid. A stalactite, he guessed. "Ow! Ow- Yeowch!"

"Stop moving about!" He snapped. Her voice seemed to get more faint, and more echo-ish.

"I can't- I, Ow!"

Cap flew about desperately, he had no idea what was going on with Sera but it didn't sound good, and if the last two hours had taught him anything – it was that Sera had no idea what she was doing.

For a few tense moments, everything was silent and Cap dreaded the worst. Then he bumped into something warm and soft. He heard panting noises right before him.

"Sera!" He said, and landed on her shoulder. "Really, Sera – we need to get through this together, remember?" A hand grabbed him tightly. "I know, I know, you're happy to see me. Now get your hand off me," He said, smiling, glad of the darkness hiding his relieved smile. The hand tightened, and he blinked as he actually felt something sharp dig into him.

Something that kind of felt like claws. Panicked, he grabbed at the hand, and when his hands touched something furry and fluffy, he knew it wasn't Sera. He fell back on his fairy instincts, and bit the hand holding him. His captor howled and released him.

"Cap?!" Sera's voice was nearing him, she was coming back!

"Sera! There's something here!" He called, flying as high as he could get without getting stabbed by a stalactite.

"What?!" She was now way too close for comfort.

"Run, you dummy!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. The creature growled in the darkness.

"Cap, I'm coming!" She shouted in reply. He wanted to slap his forehead.

"No, don-" He could hear a loud impact in the darkness, and he felt fear seize his heart. His wings stopped for a moment and he plummeted to the ground. He steadied himself at the last minute, trying to fly towards the sounds, as he was suddenly bathed in light.

He winced as he looked to the source of light, and saw Sera rolling around the ground with something furry, outside the wall of the cave, in which there was a huge hole. He blinked, wondering how the hell the hole had come about. Then he shook his head, realizing it wasn't relevant at the moment.

"Sera!" He flew towards her as she pinned the furry thing to the ground, and he gasped as he realized – it was a wolf-man. Even where he was he could see the claws, the fur, the tail, the fangs – and Sera was wrestling with the dangerous creature.

"What have you done with my friend?!" She screeched in his face, and the wolf-man began to shake. Presumably in anger. His bright blue eyes focused on her intently. His lips curled back over his teeth...

...As a whine escaped his mouth.

"Please don't kill me! Or eat me! I'm not tasty – not tasty at all, I swear! People have tasted me before, and I'm disgusting. Pleeeaaaasssseee spareee meeee," The wolf-man whined, and tears rolled out of his eyes, comically large. It became lost in the gray-brown fur of the creature's face.

Sera's grip didn't let up, though her face conveyed her confusion. Cap promptly landed on her shoulder. "Cap!" Her face broke into a smile, and she immediately released the wolf. "You're okay!"

"Of course I am," He huffed, a little insulted. But he also seemed impressed. She had come after him, and wrestled with a wolf-man to protect him. Or avenge him. It was hard to tell.

She stood to her feet, leaving the wolf-man on the ground. "That cave was cool, wasn't it?! I couldn't see a thing! It was awesome!" She said as they began to walk away.

"I really don't understand a thing coming out of your mouth right now," He replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey, we should go back in-" She spun around in the direction of the cave. "-there," Her tone changed at the end. He looked in her direction and saw what she saw – there was no longer a hole in the wall, leading back to the cave. Instead, solid wall stood before them. They looked around, trying to gain their bearings.

"Seems like we're in the stone maze..." Cap observed.

"You know the labyrinth, Cap?" She asked.

"No, I just hear rumours... From the guards, I suspect. Because rumour is nobody has ever escaped this maze alive," He said. And just as he expected, she grinned at this, thrilled by the prospect.

"Okay, then! Onwards!" She said cheerfully, and began walking to the nearest opening.

"Wait!" Human and fairy paused. The wolf-man had gotten to his feet and was following them on two legs. "Wait, take me with you!" He implored, his ears down and his forepaws hanging uselessly at the front of his body in a sign of submission.

"Why should we?!" Cap snapped.

"Because- Uh..." His eyes rolled about, looking around as if there would be an excuse hanging around somewhere. "Well, um- I'll help you hunt!" His eyes brightened. "That's it- I'm really good at finding bugs!"

Cap made a face. "Ew,"

"And-and, uh- If you let me come with you, I'll do anything for you! I can carry your luggage-"

"We don't have any luggage," Cap interrupted.

"And make your meals, as well as your beds-"

"This is the labyrinth!" Cap said crossly.

"-And! And – I saved the best for last – I'll let you name me," Cap blinked at this one.

"Are you a total mor-" He began.

"That's great!" Sera exclaimed. Cap stared at her with open-mouthed shock. "You can totally come with us!"

"Sera!" Cap said. "Come on, one idiot is enough!"

She looked at him sheepishly. "But we get to name him," She protested in a whiny tone. He looked back at the wolf, who nodded enthusiastically. He groaned.

"Great," He muttered.

"Everything's great, you're coming with us!" She said, totally ignoring his sarcasm. The wolf straightened up, then bounded towards them and began licking _everything._

"Ew!" was Cap's reaction.

"Awesome! I always wanted a dog!" was Sera's.

* * *

Ralph knew his question was right on the money from the reaction of the two men. They were tense, and they pursed their lips as if forcing themselves to seal away the secrets within.

"Who's Sarah?" He asked, with all the mock-innocence of a child. Neither men said or did anything. But he met their eyes anyway, waiting. They would crack sooner or later.

Eventually Jareth got to his feet. "I have business to attend to," he muttered, and walked towards the exit. In his bad mood, he kicked a goblin or two aside. Ralph frowned at the Goblin King's back, then turned to Toby, who also seemed to be watching Jareth leave.

"So?" Ralph prompted. Toby sighed.

"It's not something you need to know, kid. Sorry," Toby said, patting Ralph on the head. Ralph's frown deepened at being treated like a child, but he said nothing. "But if it is true... you'll find out eventually,"

"Then why don't you tell me now?"

Toby hesitated. Ralph raised an eyebrow at the extended pause. "Because it's a pointless hope," was the answer he eventually came up with. Then Toby left in a cloud of glittery sparkles that vanished the moment they touched the ground.

Ralph sighed. "Men," He muttered with a roll of his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest.

When something touched his foot he squealed. With their master gone, the goblins had sidled over to him, wondering if they had a new companion in the ten year old.

"Get away from me!" Ralph yelled. He looked around for the riding crop he had found on the throne before, and realized with a start that it was gone. Jareth had taken it with him. He smacked at the goblins with his hand instead, to fight them off. "Sera, _hurry_!"


	6. Chapter 6 Sugar Rain

**Disclaimer: **The Labyrinth does not belong to me – still have no idea who it belongs to, will just say Jim Henson for now – and I in no way make money out of writing this.

* * *

_Chapter 5: Sugar Rain_

"Lollipop, chocolate and candy cane, even with cavities there is no pain, even when I'm in a drain, I will think of sugar rain,"

"Sera. Please shut up," Cap said politely.

Sera sighed. "But I'm so hungry," She said. "You are too, right Mr Fluffyball?"

The wolf nodded.

"We can't stop, we've been going around this stone maze for an hour! You only have ten hours left to complete the labyrinth and I promise you – you _will _need it," Cap said firmly, but when he looked back both his companions were gone. He made a grunt of frustration, and walked in the direction he could hear Sera's incessant voice coming from.

It was terrible. At intersections, Sera always chose to go right – which led them in a circle. Or so he thinks, he had no idea how the labyrinth worked. When he tried to fly up to see which way to go, the walls grew with him, preventing him from getting a bird's eye view of the place.

"Hey, hey, this is so cool! I can't believe this!" She said, with that ever cheerful tone of hers. When Cap entered the opening where they were in, he was faced with what looked like two animal-headed shields blocking two separate doors. One had red markings on the shield and the other had blue markings, not to mention their heads had respective red and blue hats. The wolf was over to the side, gasping for breath and grasping the wall as if they were his safety. He eyed the animal-headed shields nervously, his eyes twitching. Sera was busy grabbing at the shields and looking closely at the heads. "Hey! I have a question – how do you guys poop?"

They blinked at her. "Are you asking me or him?"

"Anyone," was her answer. The blue one looked at the red one.

"Uh. We don't poop," he said.

"Cool," She breathed, actually looking genuinely awed.

"Okay guys, move away, we've got to get through," Cap said, hovering before Sera's face in an attempt to block out the sixteen year old from asking any more stupid questions. "And tell us which door leads to the goblin castle,"

The blue head below spoke. "We can't,"

"Why not?"

"We don't know. You've got to ask the guys up there. All we know is that one leads to the castle at the centre of the labyrinth, and the other leads to-"

"Ba ba ba bum!" The other three chorused.

"Certain death!" The red lower head answered. "But you can't ask them any more,"

"Why not?" Sera asked.

"Because you can only ask them one question!" All four heads laughed.

Cap glared at Sera.

"Ohhh..." Sera said, and Cap smacked the back of her head.

"Can't we do anything?" Cap asked.

"Nope!" The red head on the top said.

"It's in the rules!" the blue one echoed. All four cackled.

"Well, that's that," Cap sighed. "Let's just-" He turned around but there was nothing but a dead end there.

"Ah! Noooo! The labyrinth's going to swallow us whole!" Mr Fluffyball gasped, and began hyperventilating.

"Get a hold of yourself!" Cap yelled, and smacked Mr Fluffyball in the face. The wolf gasped, and held his cheek, but his hysteria had passed. "Sera, pick a door,"

She blinked, turning her eyes to the doors. "Uh..."

* * *

"Which did she choose before?" Toby asked as he looked over Jareth's shoulder into the crystal ball.

"The correct door, the blue one. If she hadn't been so arrogant she would have made it through too," Jareth said.

"So this Sarah's been in the labyrinth before?" Ralph asked. The men had, just half an hour ago, simultaneously returned to the hall, much to his relief. Then they began watching that crystal as if it was some kind of TV, and their favorite football team was on. Ralph did the same, and realized he could watch his sister's efforts to complete the elaborate maze.

They weren't very encouraging. In fact, he had more confidence in his sister _before_ he began watching her. If not for that fairy, she'd be dead.

Nobody answered his question, but he hadn't really been expecting one. He kept his eyes on the crystal ball.

_Sera placed her index on her lips, in a thinking position, and peered at the doors through narrowed eyes. She looked like she was thinking hard._

"_Chose one yet, Sera?" The fairy asked._

"_Hmm... That one," She pointed at the red door._

"_Why that one?" Cap asked, moving closer to her, dragging the wolf with him, even though the creature had to be a thousand times his size._

"_Well... At first, I thought – the red door is always bad! So it had to be the blue one. Then I realized – It's a trap. They make you think like that,but in fact the red one is the right one, and the blue one leads to-" She looked to the heads pointedly. They blinked at her for a moment, before getting the hint._

"_Ba ba ba bum!" They harmonized._

"_Certain death!" She announced with relish._

All the men went silent.

"Jareth?" Toby asked.

"Yes?" Jareth responded, his voice strained.

"I really don't think that's my sister," Toby said.

"I wish she wasn't mine either," Ralph mumbled. He blinked. "Wait a second, your sister?"

Toby stared at Ralph with wide eyes, realizing his mistake. "Uh..."

* * *

"Is she serious?" The wolf asked, pointing at Sera with one clawed finger of his paw.

"Unfortunately, yes," Cap responded. "Come on. We have half a chance of not dying, anyhow,"

Mr Fluffyball whimpered. The three passed through the door.

And of course, nothing but certain death awaited them. At first, it was just a tunnel. A narrow tunnel, but it wasn't certain death.

"See? I picked the right one," Sera said happily. That was when swinging axes fell from the ceiling, and began swishing around.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Calm down, Mr Fluffyball!" Cap yelled, slapping him silly. Hisses from below made them look down – only to find snakes littered at their feet. Sera's eyes actually widened at this one. They were still – surrounded by swinging axes and snakes, they had no idea where to move to. Then from behind, holes began to appear in the wall, starting from the beginning of the passage and quickly spreading to them. And out of these holes – daggers shot out, lethal blades that slammed into the wall. Some intercepted each other, and even the metal ring from them clashing sounded painful. Axes were destroyed under the torrent of blades.

"We have to keep going!" Sera said, and narrowly avoided a swinging axe as the holes in the wall started to appear in the walls, catching up to them quickly. She stepped on a snake by accident, and it pulled back, hissing at her, readying itself to bite her.

"Sera, we've got to get out of here!" Cap struggled as Mr Fluffyball held onto his feet, trying to get Cap to fly him away from the snakes and all the other dangers – to no avail, of course. How could the fairy carry the huge wolf?

"Pleeaaaase, get us out!" Mr Fluffyball sobbed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sera asked, managing to get past another swinging axe. The approaching blades made Mr Fluffyball eep, and he quickly ran past another axe. For all his fears, he was quite agile. "This is so much fun!" Sera said gleefully, bypassing four swinging axes with one sprint. "The only thing that could make this better is a piece of cake-"

That's when a huge hole appeared in the ground. Both Sera and Mr Fluffyball began screaming as they fell down the hole – only Cap remained, because he was in the air. But when he had to dodge a dagger, he quickly realized he should just join his companions, and flew straight down the hole.

All he could hear in the dark was: "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

* * *

"She's in the oubliette,"

"What?!" Toby yelled, and made a grab for the crystal. Jareth held it away, peering into it, hogging the magical item.

"What's an oubliette?" Ralph asked curiously. But both men were busy with the crystal. "Hey-"

"It's a place you put people to forget about them," Toby explained briefly without looking up. "What are you going to do?" He asked Jareth.

"Send Hoble in to take her to the start," Jareth answered casually. "She'll give up. She has to start all over again. There's no way she'll keep going-"

"Obviously you don't know my sister very well," Ralph interrupted, causing the two Fae to look up at him. "Rats learn better than my sister. She's worse than an energizer bunny. She doesn't give up. Never. Ever,"

Jareth's face hardened at this. "We'll see about that," He assured the child, then left to contact Hoggle.

* * *

"Ow!" When finally they landed, it was still pitch dark. And for a few moments, nothing but groans filled the air. "Cap? Fluffyball? You guys okay?" Sera asked.

"I'm totally fine," Cap said.

"I think I may have peed myself," Mr Fluffyball said.

"It's really dark here. Find a light switch, guys," Sera said.

"What's a light swit- Something just touched me!" Mr Fluffyball yelped. "Something soft and fluffy!"

"It wasn't me," Sera replied.

"Hold on, I'll cast a light spell," Cap said.

"It touched me again!"Mr Fluffyball said.

Moments later, the room they were in was illuminated. It looked like the inside of a cave, except there was no other opening. It was just... a hole. This would have been very distressing if not for the fact that there was something more distressing in the place.

Something white that was darting about the place. Something like the size of a pillow, and fluffy.

"What is it?" Sera asked, trying to keep track of it with her eyes and failing. She'd have chased it, if she wasn't already having trouble just from following it with her eyes.

"I don't believe it, it's a FlufferBuster!" Cap said, a ball of light right above him – the source of light. On an ordinary basis, Sera would have been more amused by the bright, shiny ball. But at the moment the fluffy thing had her full attention.

"What's a FlufferBuster?" Sera asked.

"It's that. Except they're meant to be extinc-" Mr Fluffyball answered when the FlufferBuster slammed into his stomach, causing him to keel over, howling. "I-I'm sorry, please don't k-kill me..."

The FlufferBuster partially hid behind a rock, and made an angry sound that was a cross of a bleat and a meow. Sera stared at it closely – the FlufferBuster was the cutest thing she had ever seen. _It's a cloud with a face! And antennae!_ Sera realized. It had antennae sticking out of its head, the ends of which had a smaller, just as fluffy white ball.

"Well, it's obviously going to hate you," Cap told Mr Fluffyball, who had with some difficulty stood and was hiding behind Cap... Even though he was about several hundred times Cap's size. "They became extinct because of your race,"

"B-But I'm a vegetarian," The FlufferBuster made another noise at Mr Fluffyball, and Mr Fluffyball eeped, cowering behind the fairy. Sera blinked at the aggressiveness of the tiny object, then bent down before it, holding out a hand as if offering it to be sniffed by a dog.

"Hi, I'm Sera," She told the FlufferBuster, which let out a string of annoyed bleat-meows.

"It doesn't trust you," Cap told Sera.

"How do you know that?" Sera responded without looking away.

"Because I can understand FlufferBuster,"

"Tell it to stop hurting me," Fluffyball begged. Cap rolled his eyes.

"FlufferBusters can understand us. They just don't have the capabilities to respond in our language," Cap explained.

"Hey, I won't hurt you," Sera assured it, but the FlufferBuster remained behind its rock.

"It's useless, Sera. FlufferBusters have been hunted for years. If this one's still alive it means its survival instincts are really good, and it's not going to trust you," Cap said. "Let's just try and find this a way out of this place,"

But Sera refused to break eye contact with the FlufferBuster.

* * *

"Where's that little-" Jareth proceeded to curse in a language not known to Ralph. Toby did, if his wincing was any indication.

"I'll go find him," Toby offered, and stood.

"And when you do, tell Hottle that I will personally toss him into the Bog of Eternal Stench!" Jareth growled.

"Yes, yes," Toby said patronizingly and vanished.

* * *

"Sera, you've been staring at the FlufferBuster for almost half an hour. It's not going to come out. Help us find a way out," Cap said, starting to lose his patience.

"I just want to be friends with you," Sera told the fluffy mass. Its purple eyes, staring at her amidst all the fur, eyed her doubtfully. Then it opened its mouth and made some noises. "What did it say?" She asked Cap, who was feeling the ceiling for a way out. Mr Fluffyball was busy sniffing along the walls for an exit as well – while hyperventilating. And complaining of claustrophobia.

"It asked why we're in the labyrinth," Cap answered distractedly, too busy searching for an exit.

"We're all going to dieeeeee," Mr Fluffyball moaned between pants, his hands smacking the walls in futility. Cap rolled his eyes.

"Oh, that's because I'm running it," Sera explained, and the FlufferBuster actually emerged a bit more from its hiding place, looking up at Sera in puzzlement. "You see, I wanted to know if the labyrinth was real, so my brother offered himself to be wished away, so we could see if the labyrinth was real. And – well, I guess it is,"

Cap and Fluffyball paused, and exchanged a look. Neither had heard her story yet. The FlufferBuster revealed itself from behind the rock, and bleat-meowed again.

"It says 'Your brother must be a really kind person'," Cap translated.

"He is. He's amazing. That's why I need to save him," Sera said. The FlufferBuster seemed to contemplate this, then approached Sera's hand. It laid its antennae in her open palm, and the feelers moved about for a few seconds, as if sniffing her hand. Then the FlufferBuster hopped into her hand, and gave her the cutest little smile she had ever seen.

Without warning she grabbed it and hugged it to her chest.

"Wait, Sera!" Cap yelled, fearing the worst from the FlufferBuster. Then the FlufferBuster responded by snuggling against her. "Huh. It likes you,"

"Really?" She pulled back, and the FlufferBuster made a cheerful noise, while bouncing in her hand. "I like you too! I'm Sera. You are?" The FlufferBuster visibly deflated.

"It says it doesn't remember its name. It hasn't needed one for years. It has had no friends,"

"Oh," Sera blinked. "Then can I give you one?" The FlufferBuster perked up. "I'll name you Mr Fluffyball!"

"Wait, that's my name," The wolf protested, stepping forward, his claustrophobia momentarily forgotten. The FlufferBuster emitted what seemed like its version of a growl, and the wolf stepped back, hands held up in a peaceful gesture.

"Oh yeah, it is. Then I'll just name you Fluffyball," Sera told the FlufferBuster, who replied with a cheerful chirp.

"Won't that be confusing?" Cap pointed out.

Sera considered this. "Okay then," She pointed at the wolf. "You're Rover," She declared. "And you can be Fluffyball," She told the FlufferBuster, whom she hugged tightly again.

"Okay, now that everything's settled, let's find a way out of here," Cap said tiredly. This was turning out to be the longest thirteen hours of his life. Fluffyball made noises while in Sera's arms, and he blinked. "What, you know a shortcut to the castle?" His eyes bulged.

"Fluffyball, you're the greatest!" Sera said, conveniently forgetting – or having never noticed – all that Cap had done for her. Cap sighed. He supposed he should be used to it.

"Well, lead on, Fluffy," He told the FlufferBuster.

* * *

"Jareth, I told Hoggle to-" Toby began, when he noticed Ralph drawing an invisible horizontal line across his throat – a gesture Toby recognized to mean 'cut it out'.

"Too late, Toby. She already left," Jareth said in a voice so calm he knew it wasn't a real calm.

"I... see..." Toby said carefully. Inwardly, he was congratulating his sister at managing to escape an oubliette. _Of course. If anyone could do it, it would be Sarah._

"Why is nothing going as I want today?" Jareth asked no one in particular, his frustration radiating off him in waves.

"Maybe because you're the villain and villains never get what they want?" Ralph asked. Nobody in the room answered him.

Such was the fate of the Goblin King.


	7. Chapter 7 Shiny Maze

**Disclaimer: **The characters and plot of the Labyrinth belongs to someone other than me, I still don't have any idea who exactly. But obviously, it's not me. I'm not making any money from writing this fiction.

* * *

_Chapter 7: Shiny Maze_

"So after we get out of here, we should almost be there?" Sera asked. Fluffyball let out a string of happy sounds, none of which Rover or Sera could understand.

"It says yes. Just after the maze ahead. It's a shortcut, but no one ever uses it,"

"Why not?" Rover asked suspiciously. Fluffyball glared at Rover, who was maintaining a respectable, safe distance from the lethal ball of fluff. It made a few noises.

"Apparently it's too shiny," Cap said, looking confused.

"Ooh, shiny!" Sera said, eyes sparkling.

"I-I guess if it's shiny it won't be scary..." Rover muttered.

"Oobmyaa!" Fluffyball responded. Cap didn't quite understand this, but it sounded cheerful, so he didn't pay it much mind.

He should have.

"...Huh," Sera said, as Fluffyball squirmed in her arms excitedly. Rover couldn't even whimper, he just stared with his jaw open and tongue lolling out.

"Oobmyaa," Cap repeated dumbly.

Before them were millions of their own reflections. No matter where they looked, they found their eyes staring back at them. It was a maze. A maze of mirrors.

"...How are we going to do this?" Sera asked.

"Oobmyaa rtea!" Fluffyball jumped from her arms and bounced away.

"Wait, Fluffy!" Sera said, running after the FlufferBuster.

"No, Sera!"

Three things happened at once. Sera slammed into a mirror, having been chasing Fluffyball's reflection, Cap collided with another mirror, having been chasing Sera's reflection, and Rover bolted away in fear – eventually hitting into a mirror because he couldn't see where he was going.

"Cap! Cap?" Sera yelled, rubbing her aching forehead.

"Sera!" Cap grunted as he hit against another mirror. "Sera, where are you?"

"We're gonna dieeee," Rover moaned.

And all over the place, they could hear Fluffyball's sounds. It was like it was bouncing about everywhere, making noises that echoed. They could hear Fluffyball's noises coming from every direction.

"Cap! Fluffyball! Rover!" Sera was starting to really get worried. She'd see a reflection of her companion, break out in a relieved smile, try and reach out to them only to feel nothing but a smooth, hard surface. Not to mention continuously hitting against these very painful surfaces. She was starting to feel light-headed – she was so confused her head was starting to hurt.

Suddenly, someone emerged from the mirror, and she screamed. She spun around to try and escape but in her attempt tripped over her own feet instead.

"Sera?!" Cap yelled. She couldn't say anything. She was literally frozen in fear. He was small, a child, she guessed. He had the facial features of one. His hair was as unruly as the Goblin King's, and it reached his waist. He was dressed in simple breeches and a shirt. No shoes or coat. He smiled and reached out to Sera.

She was so afraid she couldn't even blink. His hand cupped her cheek, and he smiled. His smile went all the way up to his dark eyes. She couldn't hear anything else. It's like her ears had toned out everything, including the voice of her companions as they frantically searched for her.

_I've missed you, Sarah. _She thought he'd spoken to her, but he hadn't even opened his mouth. The voice reverberated in her head, as if he had spoken right into her mind.

Her eyes began to hurt. She'd reached the end of her limit – she blinked. When she opened her eyes, he was gone.

She looked around. He had vanished into thin air. Had she imagined it all?

The voices of her friends finally reached her and she began her search all over again, dismissing the encounter as a hallucination.

"Cap, where are you?!"

"Sera! Sera, you're okay?"

She breathed a sigh of relief when she caught sight of him. "Don't worry, Cap, I'm-" she cut off as she slammed into her mirror. She growled in annoyance. These bloody mirrors were starting to get on her nerves.

Finally she came to a solution – she'll try and break the mirrors. She took a deep breath. "Hold on guys, I think I can do something!"

"Sera, no!" Cap said. He already knew that any ideas she'd had would be bad.

"Haiyah!" Sera yelled, and headbutted the mirror. With a gurgle, she went down.

"Sera!" She could hear echoes of her name from all her companions, but she couldn't respond to them. She was quickly losing consciousness.

* * *

"Uggghhhh," Ralph groaned, cradling his face with his palms. Why him? Why his sister?

Jareth said nothing. He passed the crystal ball to Toby without a word. Toby watched him, saying nothing, as Jareth crossed to the weirdest window Ralph had ever seen and sat at the sill. Ralph lifted his head, and both watched the Goblin King as he released crystal balls out of the window, and they floated away like bubbles. Out towards the labyrinth.

"Jareth, I need to speak to-" Ralph and Toby's heads swiveled towards the entrance of the throne room, now relatively quiet since most of the goblins had somehow tired themselves out and were laying around the room, snoring. A man stood there, an eyebrow raised at his brother. His eyes, like Jareth, had one of blue and the other of brown, except of lighter shades. His hair was a dark brown - K_ind of like dark chocolate,_ Ralph reflected.

The man crossed over to Ralph and Toby, and spoke in hushed tones.

"What is he doing?" He seemed to know better than to disturb Jareth, who almost seemed to be in a trance as he sat at the oddly-shaped window sill, gazing out at his kingdom.

"We have no idea. Why are you here, Eldwyn?" Toby asked.

"I came to tell Jareth that his suitors have arrived at his kingdom, and are currently in their respective rooms in this very castle. He should really meet them," Eldwyn said.

"He wouldn't right now. He has a very interesting runner at the moment," Toby said.

"Interesting how- Oh..." Eldwyn trailed off as he noticed unconscious Sera's face in the crystal ball. He knew exactly who she was – he'd peeked into enough of Jareth's crystal balls to recognize her. "Is that-"

"Jareth thinks so. I have no idea..." Toby responded. Ralph said nothing. He could almost understand all they said now. Though at the moment he was most curious about what Jareth was doing, as he sat at the window sill wordlessly, gazing out across the kingdom.

_You can do this, sis. _He thought to himself. Whatever it was Jareth was doing – she could conquer it.

* * *

Sera's eyes were so wide her eyeballs began to dry up and hurt. She blinked – but it didn't dispel the scene before her.

_Oh God, where am I? Where is this? What was with all the masks and laughter and people... Ooh, it's a party!_

She took a step forward... and paused. She looked down at the puffy skirt in shock, its was white – but seemed to shine with different colours as she moved. She was then distracted by her arms – covered in gauzy, lacey stuff, and the puffiest sleeves she had ever seen.

_What the- _She grabbed the sleeves, the puffiness just annoyed her. The dress felt so restricting... and was that a corset? She tried to remove the dress, and realized her hair was really heavy. She reached up and touched her hair... there was something in them. Something_s._

She looked around for a mirror, but people kept bumping into her. They were all laughing and chatting amicably, their faces hidden by masks. And among them someone was singing.

Singing something that sounded eerily familiar. She looked around for him – the man singing the song. There were all these people in the way and her dress was so heavy and restricting. Finally she grabbed onto the skirt and tore it off with one strong yank. She did the same to the sleeves. People around her gasped at her actions, she ignored them and weaved around all the bodies.

His voice felt so close now, almost like he was singing right beside her ear. But when she turned around, she saw no one... Or at least, even if there was someone, they felt wrong. It wasn't who she was looking for. She didn't know how she knew it, but she did.

_My head hurts... _She realized after a few seconds. The pain intensified the more attention she paid to his song, as if there was something in her head trying to burst out of her skull. She held her head with her hands, her vision was starting to blur – yet she still searched for him.

And suddenly – he was right in front of her. Singing to her. Dressed in glittery, dark blue finery. Messy blonde hair surrounding his head like some kind of carelessly weaved halo. His mismatched eyes boring into her intensely, never looking away.

"_As the world falls down..._" She could read the words from his lips as she stared at them, transfixed, but it hurt her head to even think about them. He offered his arms out to her, for a dance, she figured. This was followed by the most painful throb she'd had yet, and she turned away from him. She ran as far as she could. Where, she didn't know. Just away from him.

She collided with people, then forcefully shoved them away. They protested her treatment, but she didn't care. She _had _to escape – an illogical decision that hurt her every time she tried to make some sense of it. She needed to escape. Escape. Escape where? She spotted an exit out of the ballroom, but when she got close to it, all she saw was a distorted version of her reflection.

It was her, hair done up with ribbons, face made-up, jewelry adorning her body and wearing a ripped dress. That wasn't all though – her hair color was, well, at first she thought of it as wrong, then realized... no, it was more right than wrong. It was too right that it was wrong.

Who was that in the mirror? And why did she seem so...

"Familiar?" She wondered aloud, before another painful throb tore through her thoughts. She whimpered under the excruciating pang. And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, she blanked out once more.

* * *

"...ra! Sera?" When she opened her eyes, she found the fairy flying beside her face, looking so concerned it made her smile.

"Hey, Cap. Wassup?" She grinned at him in a weary manner.

He glared at her. "Don't you ever do that to me again," He scolded, placing his tiny hand on her forehead.

"Sorry," She responded. _Why am I bouncing? _She wondered, and looked down. Rover was carrying her on his back as he walked, and his furry back felt warm against her.

"You okay, Sera?" He asked.

"Yeah... I'm fine..." She said, but this wasn't true. She could still feel a twinge of pain in her head. She ignored it. "Thanks for the ride, Rover,"

"Well... It's the least I could do. Besides, I was the only one who could follow Fluffyball. Cause I used my nose," He said. Before them, bouncing on the path, Fluffyball chirped several times, Sera didn't need a translation to understand.

"Yes, I'm fine, Fluffy," Sera smiled. Fluffyball let out a relieved meow, then bleat-meowed a few times more.

"Fluffyball says we're almost there," Cap said. Sera nodded, and took this chance to look around. It seemed like they were in a forest of some kind. Just as she was studying the leaves and branches that formed natural canopies above her head, Fluffyball made some noises, bouncing up and down excitedly.

There was a clearing up and ahead, and beyond it the Goblin Castle could be seen. It almost seemed like the branches and leaves had made way for the view of the towering castle.

"We're almost there," She realized.

"Yup. And we still have five hours to go," Cap said triumphantly, landing on her shoulder. "Just hold on, Sera. We're about to get your brother back,"

She smiled, and hugged Rover tightly. "Thanks guys,"

* * *

When Jareth finally left the sill, the three males on the throne watched him carefully, wary of causing him to snap.

"So..." Toby was the first to say anything. They'd watched Sera getting carried away by the wolf-man in the crystal ball, but they couldn't see anything else. Toby had a feeling Jareth was doing something to Sera's unconscious dream, but no matter how much magic he used Jareth continued to block him out.

"Yes?" Jareth asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What did you do?" Eldwyn asked.

"Eldwyn. What are you doing here?" Jareth asked, conveniently ignoring Eldwyn's question.

"Brother. What are you doing?" Eldwyn asked. "If she is who you want, why not just tell her?"

"Because... I do not know yet," Jareth answered softly.

"Not know what?"

"Whether it's truly her,"

"Jareth," Eldwyn ran a hand through his hair, frustrated by his brother's antics. "There are five suitors waiting for you in this castle, hoping to be your queen, and here you are chasing the ghost of a girl you didn't even profess your love to,"

"Eldwyn," Jareth growled warningly.

"No, Jareth, you are my brother and I love you. I cannot go through another century watching you regret the passing of a confession that should have happened!" Eldwyn said, getting to his feet and pacing around the throne room, agitated, almost crushing a few still-asleep goblins as he did. "No. No more. You tell me right now that this girl is the one, and I will tell your suitors to leave, as well as notify the High King and Queen that you have found your queen," Jareth opened his mouth to protest, but Eldwyn held up a hand to stop him. "_Or _you tell me that you're not interested in this girl, and you let her finish her run in peace, then move on and marry one of the suitors chosen for you," Eldwyn's eyes met Jareth's, and the seriousness in them was unmistakable. "Well, Jareth? Your move,"

Jareth said nothing, he met his brother's eyes and remained stubbornly tight-lipped.

Ralph and Toby looked from one to the other, wondering what will happen.

"I will..." Jareth began, and everyone else in the room – goblins notwithstanding – hung upon his very word. Jareth sighed. "I will give up on my empty hope. I will let her finish her run in peace... and I will marry one of the suitors you have chosen for me, brother. Something I appreciate you for very much, Eldwyn. Thank you,"

Jareth crossed back over to his throne. Ralph automatically made space for him, and the Goblin King strew himself over the throne in a way only he could... and resumed watching his runner.

Eldwyn never took his eyes off his brother, watching him with open-mouthed surprise. "Uh... Alright. You're welcome, I suppose," He murmured, flustered and a little mortified at his own defiance against his brother. "I guess I'll go check up on your suitors. You _will _visit them soon?"

"Of course," Jareth responded, waving Eldwyn away, eyes glued to the crystal ball. Eldwyn hesitated to walk to the door, throwing doubtful glances back at his brother, giving the Goblin King chances to change his mind. But Jareth remained silent.

"Jareth... is that true?" Toby asked quietly once Eldwyn was gone. "Are you really giving up on Sera being Sarah?"

"Yes," Jareth said in what almost sounded like a brisk tone... had it not had such a dead hollowness to it. Toby didn't say anything... and neither did Ralph.


	8. Chapter 8 Nuzzle Nuzzle

**Disclaimer: **The Labyrinth's characters and plot does not belong to me. At all. This is purely a piece of fiction based on someone else's great creation. I don't know who still.

**A/N: **I know everyone is baffled by Sera's attitude. I promise, it'll all make sense at some point.

* * *

_Chapter 8: Nuzzle Nuzzle_

"Crrryeow! Yseritoi!" Fluffyball said happily, bouncing up and down in the spot.

"Ooh! I can see it!" Sera said, then winced. Her own voice was hurting her head.

"Me too," Rover said in awe, looking past the edge of the forest at the Goblin Castle, and the small neighbourhood at the bottom of it beyond the gates. The gates were daunting, large – no, ridiculously gigantic. But it also symbolized the near end of their journey.

"Hey Rover, you can let me down now," Sera told the wolf.

"Are you sure?" He asked, his furry face forming a concerned expression.

"Yup. I'm fine," is what she said, but the moment she got onto her feet, she knew that wasn't true. Her head throbbed just from having her feet touch the ground. How hard exactly had she hit her head? Fluffyball chirped something then, and she was glad for the distraction.

"Fluffyball says we're almost there," Cap said, and Fluffyball leaped towards the edge of the woods, when suddenly something blocked its path. Branches upon branches weaved together before them, forming bars to imprison them. Acting on pure instinct – Sera turned around, to seek out an escape route, but the way behind them closed up as well. They were soon surrounded on all sides by branch-weaves, forming an impromptu cage around them.

The four stood back to back, wondering what would happen. When the branches parted to allow tree-barks with hollows on them forming angry-looking faces, Rover whined in terror. It took everything for him not to break down where he was.

The wind howled around them, and Sera could just make out the words formed by the howling.

_You have done something wrong! You will not be allowed to leave this forest ever again!_

"What?" Sera asked, confused. "What have we done wrong?"

_You have taken things that belong to us! You must return it – NOW!_

Sera glanced at her companions. "What are they talking about?"

Fluffyball looked just as confused. Rover looked like he had peed himself – again, and Cap... Cap couldn't meet her eyes.

"Cap? Do you know anything?" She asked quietly.

He fidgeted uncomfortably. "No,"

_LIES! _The wind howled angrily, and one branch tendril grabbed the fairy out of the air, and began shaking him outside down.

"Hey!" Cap yelled as he was shaken like a pepper bottle.

"Stop it!" Sera said, trying to make a grab for the fairy, but couldn't reach her companion – he was suspended too high up in the air for her.

"Don't-" was all Cap managed when things began to fall from him. A single plucked plant stem with an eye at the end, a pebble from the rock maze, a tiny blade shard from the 'certain death' tunnel, a bit of Rover's fur, a mirror fragment from the mirror maze and lastly – berries from the forest maze they were in.

_You have taken our children. _The wind yelled at Cap, releasing him. He just managed to open his wings before colliding with the ground. A few branches scooped up the berries, removing them from the pile of collected Labyrinth souvenirs with much care and affection.

"Cap... what?" Sera stared at the odd items. She pointed to them, while looking at him, puzzled. "What are those?"

He muttered something that none of them could make out.

"What?" She asked. He muttered something more unintelligibly. "Huh?"

His ashamed expression turned to one of annoyance. "I said – _I did it so people would stop looking down on me!_" He yelled at his friends. He looked embarrassed at the confession. "People keep thinking I'm useless! And they think I'm a coward, because I choose not to fight back against bullies! So I thought... If I followed you through the Labyrinth... I could prove to them– prove to Peri that I'm not a coward..."

Sera blinked. "Who's Peri?"

Cap's tiny face went red. "Um... No one. She's just another fairy,"

"Ahhh..." Sera said, enlightened. "You like her,"

"Do not!" He denied vehemently, then went back to his sheepish expression. "I'm sorry, everyone,"

Rover and Sera glanced at each other. Fluffy couldn't tear its eyes from Cap.

"I don't really see what you did wrong, actually," Sera said. Rover nodded. "You wanted to prove yourself. In a way – so do I. I need to prove how much I want my brother back. You've done nothing wrong to me,"

Cap blinked. "But- but I used you,"

"That's what I'm doing. I'm using you two to protect me," Rover pointed out. "Of course, I traded my name for that..."

Fluffyball made a few noises and even though Sera didn't know what it meant she did know that it made Cap smile to hear it.

"Thank you," The male fairy said. "Thank you very much, everyone,"

"No problem. We have a bigger problem now, though – how do we get out?" Sera asked.

_You three can leave if you leave the fairy behind. He has wronged us._

Cap knew what he had to do. "That's fine. Go on ahead, Sera, Rover, Fluffy. I'll stay here,"

Sera stared. "But you have to come. How are you going to prove to the other fairies that you're awesome?"

"I don't need to," Cap answered. "I don't care about that anymore. Go, Sera," He urged.

"Absolutely not," She said firmly. "We don't leave anyone behind,"

_Then all of you will stay here – FOREVER! _The wind blew hundreds of loose leaves at them, howling loudly. One poked Sera in the forehead and she winced in pain. Rover shielded his eyes and shook in one corner.

"But you got your children back!" Sera yelled at the wind. "Come on, please. You saved your children – I need to save my brother! Please understand!"

_You must be punished for wronging us! I remember a day when the Goblin King would punish kidnappers like yourself personally! How he has changed..._

Something struck Sera. "What if I got him to change back?" she asked, unsure of where the offer came from.

_Impossible. The Goblin King listens to no one._

"At least let me try," She begged. The wind died down slightly, and for a few long moments, an eerie silence fell on them.

_Fine. But if you fail – we will find you. Remember – our green brothers and sisters will help us. _They whispered, as the branches retracted. As abruptly as they'd imprisoned them, the trees left, leaving the four unusual friends looking around for them.

"Sera... Are you sure you can?" Cap asked. He was starting to feel really guilty for having added to her troubles.

She grinned at him. "Of course I can!" _Just need to figure out how..._

"Look – the Goblin Castle," Rover said, pointing to the gates.

"Shall we?" Sera asked, and they nodded.

* * *

"Shhh," Sera hissed to her companions, and the four companions sneaked past the sleeping guard, and they sighed in relief once they were past him.

"That wasn't too bad," Rover whispered. Then the gate closed behind them, and Rover squeaked, jumping behind Sarah.

Cap squinted before them and said. "Why do they have two gates?"

"It's not very well decorated," Sera noted. "Unless they were going for creepy and scary. Which they might have,"

"I-I-I don't like it. I think it's going to k-kill us," Rover said, hunching his huge stature behind Sera so that he could fit behind her smaller frame, using her as a shield against whatever was coming. The gate began to close, and the four hurried to get in before it closed. Sera glanced behind her as Rover stuck close to her, nearly tripping over her in the process.

"Don't be scared, Rover! It's not going to-" Then the gate closed, and the two halves of a large metal knight met. Its eyes glowed red menacingly. Sera and Rover stared up at the huge foe. Rover let out a high-pitched ladylike scream and ran towards the smallest gate only to almost be impaled by serrated blades that rose from the ground.

Lucky for him Cap had been chasing after him, and just managed to pull him back from the blades, tugging on his ear. Rover fell back onto his butt.

"Guys – he's got an axe!" Sera yelled. The horned knight, already frightening from its size, brandished an axe. It hit the ground with such force that it created sparks.

"Everyone scatter!" Cap shouted, and they did as the fairy said. Rover scrambled to his feet, narrowly avoiding another swing of the axe. He ran around frantically, running on instinct – just trying to survive. Tears streamed out of his great, big eyes as he tried not to think about how he was going to die.

Then he noticed the axe lift away, no longer chasing after him. No – it was aiming for a cornered Fluffyball. He stopped in his tracks and without realizing it – his body moved in the opposite direction, towards the FlufferBuster.

"Krrriiiiooowww!" Fluffyball screeched as the axe came down on it. Rover just managed to scoop the little creature up in his arms and run away as the axe cleaved into the ground it had just been standing on. It looked up at him in surprise – it had been saved by the cowardly wolf-man?

"You okay?" He asked the fluffy creature.

"Sruuuyo,"

"I don't know what that means," He replied, but it just nuzzled against him, and he took that as its thanks.

Sera glanced up, and ignored another throb of pain. She frowned. There was someone up in the head of the knight. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was there.

"Cap, there's someone up there controlling it. Go get him!" Sera yelled as she tried to attract the attention of the knight, jumping up and down and waving her hands in the air. It swung at her and she leaped away, grinning victoriously. She peeked at Cap out of the corner of her eye, noticing him sneaking up on the controller in the head of the knight. Perfect.

She couldn't see what Cap did, but when the knight stilled, she knew he was successful. He flew down to them, beaming.

"Done," He said. "How did you know there was someone controlling it?"

She blinked. "I don't know,"

"Really?" Cap frowned. He opened his mouth to say something more when Fluffyball made an affectionate noise, attracting both their attentions. Sera and Cap watched in amusement as Fluffyball nuzzled and rubbed its fluffy body against the wolf-man it refused to go close to earlier.

"H-Hey..." Rover tried to say, but was overwhelmed by even more loving nuzzling.

Cap cleared his throat. "Can we move on or should we just leave you two behind?"

Sera giggled as she pushed open the gate small enough for them to pass through. Rover and Fluffyball followed, with less nuzzling now.

* * *

"She'd made it into the Goblin City, sir," A goblin reported to the three on the throne.

"I know," Jareth replied in annoyance. "Go prepare the goblin army,"

The goblin saluted him and ran off, the rest of the goblins in the room followed him. One rang a bell to the side repeatedly and Ralph winced as the chimes reverberated around his head. Jareth nodded at Toby and Ralph. "It's time to prepare,"

"You're sure she'll make it up here?" Toby asked.

"Yes," Jareth said without a shred of doubt, and the look in his eyes made Toby think that Jareth hadn't given up on Sera, despite what he'd said. But the fawn-haired man decided not to pursue the matter.

"Right," Toby said, and disappeared.

"Come, Ralph," Jareth said, placing his hand on Ralph's head.

"Wha-"

They vanished in a burst of blue and brown glitter, and suddenly the chaotic throne room was completely silent. The only evidence of the anarchy that had once been there was the mess that had been left behind. Feathers, dirty rags, half-melted candles, puddles of unknown concoctions... and a lone riding crop by the throne.

* * *

They crept through the neighbourhood, wary of the eerie silence. "Is this place always this quiet? I expected it to be noisy and well – noisy. It's goblins, after all..."

"Me too, actually," Cap said. "As far as I know, very few strangers have entered the goblin city in the last century,"

"Yeah... Nobody dares to come in here. If they did, they don't return either..." Rover mentioned. Fluffyball made an agreeing noise from his shoulder, where it had remained comfortably.

Sera paused, and made a motion for the rest to stop. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Cap asked.

Then they were ambushed.

"It's the goblin army!" Rover yelled, doubling back – but they were surrounding them from the back as well.

Sera tried to back away, and bumped into Rover. They were boxed in.

"Oh crap..." Sera murmured.

"What do we do?" Rover asked.

"Fight?" Sera suggested hopefully.

"What, with a fairy, a cowardly wolf-man, a human and a FlufferBuster? Against an entire army?" Cap snapped.

"Hriu..." Fluffy chirped dejectedly.

"Yeah, I know. It sucks to have gotten this far , only to be stopped here," Cap replied.

"I may be able to do something," Rover said hesitantly. "Sera, get on my back. Hold Fluffy. Cap, keep close,"

Cap and Sera share a look. "You sure, Rover?" Sera asked. The wolf-man nodded. He got down on all fours, and Sera clambered onto him, holding Fluffy in her arms.

"Alright... On three," The goblins tensed up as they waited for whatever it was the wolf-man was going to do. "One-" And then Rover took off. He ran past the soldiers, and they watched, open-mouthed, as he dashed past the soldiers – knocking some over in his haste. So fast that Cap quickly fell behind despite how quickly he flies.

"Whoo!" Sera cheered as her hair whipped in the air. "Wait – Rover. Cannons up ahead,"

"Got it," Rover said, then leaped up onto the roof of a goblin home. He began traveling from roof to roof, his powerful legs making the huge gaps between roofs look like it were mere cracks in the ground. "I'm really good at running away!"

"I noticed," Sera laughed. Even Fluffy made an exhilarated noise. They ran past soldiers and weapons and cannons – when they got to the castle, Sera jumped off without missing a beat and together they opened the heavy, chain-adorned door. As soon as they were in, they shut the doors with their collective strength. Cap just managed to slip in through that final gap before it shut with a loud thud. The goblins pounded on the gate, but to no avail. It was closed tight. Rover lifted a large side table he'd found and placed it against the doors for good measure. "Nice job, Rove!" She said, slapping him on the back. He looked a little embarrassed.

"Thanks,"

"Yeah," Cap gasped, trying to catch his breath. "Who knew he would be so good at fleeing?" Cap asked, his tone almost sarcastic, and it made Sera smile. Cap was starting to sound more like himself.

The four then look down the hallways leading deep into the goblin castle. "We're almost there," Sera said, then ran to the hallway on the right. Her friends followed her.


End file.
